


reign

by ifyournumbersup



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-03-28 10:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13902507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifyournumbersup/pseuds/ifyournumbersup
Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world, the Pride are the ruling oligarchy with one family ruling over all the others. One child from each of the 6 realms are sent to the ruling family's kingdom and entered into competition to determine which of the families will rule during the next generation. Who will reign?





	1. ascension

"Are you ready?", Robert asks his daughter, heir of the the Minoru kingdom, as she climbs into the black carriage.

"Yep." She leans to look around him and checks the entrance to the palace. "Mom's not coming to say bye?" He stands by the door and shakes his head. "Wow, such a surprise!"

Robert crosses his arms and says angrily, "hey you watch it with that tone young lady. She's busy with her queen duties you know, she has a lot of responsibilities."

Nico scoffs, "is that what you say to try and convince yourself when she doesn't have time for you?" Her father shakes his head and Nico's face softens as she realizes the error of her statement. "I - dad I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you, you're not the one I'm mad at."

He smiles and reaches over to hug her, "It's okay. Now Nico, you know the stakes of this. Make us proud sweetie." He releases her and closes the door.

The car drives off and Nico whispers, "love you too dad."

....

The sun sets on the horizon of the Wilder realm and the 6 children are settling into their new living quarters.

Tomorrow they will start their training and in 2 weeks the ascension will begin. Commoners will come from all around the 6 kingdoms to watch and see which one of the children will bring riches and honor to their homes.

The pride was formed 20 years ago when the Gibborim, mystical alien beings who believe in utopia, ended the third world war. They chose 6 families to rule what was left of the world and in order to keep the peace and prevent uprisings, they declared that whoever proved themselves worthy and won the ascension would rule over the Pride, and therefore the world.

Each of the families have different traits that make them unique and fit for rule in the Gibborim's eyes.

Leslie Dean won the first ascension 20 years ago, when she was 125 years old. She and her husband Frank have been ruling the Pride ever since. They are descendants of an ancient alien race called the Majesdane. The race invaded millions of years ago and have remained hidden on Earth until the war, when the Gibborim chose them to rule.

The Minoru's are seen as one of the most powerful families due to their abilities in the dark arts and their prized artifact, the Staff of One, which only works when accessed by the heir of the Minoru bloodline. This family has been known to be the least friendly of the Pride, only making alliances when they are extremely desperate, which is not often. Tina and Robert run their kingdom under a strict autocratic rule, with technology and wizardry intertwined into their citizen's daily lives.

Unlike the Minoru realm, the Yorkes regime is one of chaos and innovation. Dale and Stacy Yorkes are from the 87th century and crash landed a few months before the war started. By the time the war ended they had fixed their time machine and were ready to leave, but the Gibborim convinced them to stay.

The Wilder family rule the largest kingdom and have the most resources. Geoffrey and Catherine were one of the richest couples in the world before the war and profited even more when they sold weapons to both sides. The ascension was chosen to be held in their kingdom because of it's vast size.

Victor and Janet Stein are the most intelligent of the Pride. They were known as some of the world's best inventors before and were chosen by the Gibborim for their skills in engineering and physics. Their realm is full of new technologies and inventions making it the most advanced of all the kingdoms.

Last but not least is the Hayes family. Gene and Alice Hayes are perhaps the most interesting of the members because of their dual abilities. They are mutants, having the power of telepathy, and also scientists who specialize in chemistry and biology. The rest of the Pride are weary of the Hayes due to their hate of humans, who they view as inferior to themselves.

Ever since Leslie Dean won 25 years ago, the other families have been spying on the each other to figure out each of the heir's weaknesses. Although each family is powerful in it's own right, they have to serve the Dean's because of the outcome of the first tournament. This has caused tension to build up in the Pride, due to the members being so arrogant. But the most insulting thing about this arrangement for the families other than the Dean's is that it doesn't allow them to grow their territories beyond their original state 20 years ago.

Unfortunately for the heirs, there is an even higher level of pressure placed on the participants in this tournament. Now that their parents know how it feels to live in submission, the stakes are raised.

So as Karolina Dean, Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes, Alex Wilder, Molly Hayes, and Nico Minoru enter their rooms they feel an enormous wait on their shoulders. The weight of thousands of their realm's people depending on them to win so they can have a better life. The weight of their parents failures. And finally, the weight of their own hopes and dreams.

....

A girl, only 11 years old, skips into the main hall of the palace. She was bored just sitting her room so she thought she might go early to the meeting. 

She enters the hall and sees a boy sitting down at a table, his back turned to her. She runs up and taps him on the shoulder. He turns around and she smiles. 

"Hi! My name is Molly." The young girl says as she sticks out her hand to a tall guy.

He shakes it willingly and smiles down at her. "I'm Chase. Nice to meet you Molly."

She sits down across from him. Chase and her are the first to arrive for the opening orientation.

"It looks like we're a little early," Chase says, motioning to the empty seats around them.

She giggles and nods her head. "Yeah. My parents always tell me that early is on time and on time is late."

"That's good advice. I'm a Stein by the way. Which family are you from?," Chase asks her, even though he already knows the answer. His dad made him study and research all the other heirs, their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities. He hated it but he had no choice.

"Hayes," Molly says proudly. 

Chase raises his eyebrows in feigned surprise and gasps. "Whoa. So you have like powers or something?"

"Yep! And I'm really strong when I wanna be. My eyes glow and it's really cool."

"Wow that is really cool. I wish I had powers like that."

Molly grimaces internally, remembering what her parents always said about humans. That they're weak because they don't have abilities and that can't be trusted. But she doesn't believe them; she has always liked humans, they've always been nicer to her than her mutant parents. 

The door to the hall opens and two more heirs enter, one behind the other. 

Nico Minoru and Gert Yorkes walk down the middle of the aisle and sit down at the table Chase and Molly are currently occupying, with Gert sitting on the left of Molly and Nico sitting next to Chase. 

"Hello ladies I'm Chase Stain," he says after a few seconds of silence. "Care to introduce yourselves?"

It is silent once again and Nico sighs and speaks up. "I'm Nico Minoru." 

Molly gasps and looks at the dark haired girl with wide eyes. "Minoru! So you have powers?"

Nico smiles at the younger girl and shakes her head. "Not exactly. I use a staff and it has powers. That make sense?" Molly nods enthusiastically. "And what is your name?"

"I'm Molly." She smiles and reaches out her hand to Nico, who takes it gladly. 

"Nice to meet you Molly." She looks to Gert and asks, "and you are?"

"Gert, Yorkes." Chase reaches his hand out this time and Gert looks at it hesitantly before finally taking it. 

"Nice to meet you Gert, and you too Nico." He knows he shouldn't talk with the other heirs unless absolutely necessary but he can't help it. His dad's voice plays in his head, 'you aren't going to make friends. You're going to win and do whatever is necessary.' Chase shakes his head slightly and smiles. "So, are you ladies excited for this or not? Personally, I didn't want to come."

Gert scoffs and rolls her eyes at his statement. "Oh really? The golden child of the Pride didn't want to come? That's hard to believe." She is always eager to call out an obnoxious guy on his bullshit.

Chase sits up straighter and tilts his head at the girl with purple hair to his right. So she checked up on him too? He remembered learning she was feisty, this is going to be fun. "Golden child? Why thank you Gert, I've never heard that nickname before, but I kind of like it. And I don't want to be here as much as you. It's taking me away from my friends back home." To tell the truth, Chase just wanted to get back to his room, where he makes all of his devices and prototypes. His friends kind of suck, they're all rude and stuck up. 

Gert is about to reply with another snide remark but the door opens once again and the last two heirs walk into the hall. 

Alex and Karolina enter and sit at the table with the rest of the heirs.

Alex speaks first. "Hello everyone, how are you guys liking the palace so far?" He figures he should be friendly to them, his kingdom is hosting the ascension after all. And he would like to start off on a good note with them; he knows it might get pretty ugly further into the competition.

"Yeah. It's pretty cool," Molly replies first, smiling at Alex.

"Yes your kingdom is very beautiful, thank you for hosting," Karolina adds. She was told by her mother to be kind to the Wilder family, they are the Dean's closest allies after all. And she doesn't want to disappoint her mother. She is determined to win the ascension since her kingdom is the reigning family currently. She doesn't want to be the one to end that. 

The rest reply to Alex and Karolina looks around the table, studying her company quietly. She's not seeing them for the first time because her parents made her study them a few months back. Karolina tries not to let her eyes linger on the girl in black. She had been sort of fixated on her since she learned about her earlier in the year; Nico was just so captivating. Karolina didn't have a reason for her fascination but she did know not to let it get in the way of her winning. So, she clears her mind and joins in the conversation.

The group continues with light discussion until the bell sounds and two people walk in the hall.

The Wilders stand in front of the heirs, looking tall and intimidating as always. They look over the group with smiles that look a little too forced and Geoffrey Wilder produces a small box from behind his back. 

He clicks a button on the top and a deep voice booms from it. 

_"Now children, we will begin."_

**A/N**

**Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think of the story so far? I want to know if it's worth continuing.**

**\- S**

 

 

 


	2. the ceremony

"Now children, we will begin," the deep and ominous voice booms from the box.

Molly jumps out of her seat a little. She wasn't expecting it to sound like that, so scary

"Stand."

The heirs stand and face Geoffrey quickly, not wanting to offend the being who's voice they are hearing. The Gibborim.

"Now, let me take a look at them." Geoffrey walks towards the kids, still holding the box and stops seven meters in front of them. "Ah, not quite as strong as the current pride, and not as smart. But ... there's something else there, something very unique indeed. This ascension will be interesting ..."

The Gibborim pauses to let it's words take affect. There's many thoughts circling in the kids' minds, but one common between all of them. What did it mean by unique? How are they different from their parents?

But the Gibborim doesn't answer their questions; instead, it tells Geoffrey to place the box on the ground and back away. He does as he is told and everyone in the room waits for it to speak again.

All of sudden the the room goes pitch black and the box projects a holographic map of the Wilder kingdom about five meters above it. Then it speaks again. "The ascension will begin tomorrow with a ceremony, then we will move onto the competition the next morning. I assume your parents informed you all about their ascension, but I assure you, this will be a very different experience for you."

The map zooms in to a forest and the number one pops up above it. "The purpose of the ascension is to select the best leader of the Pride. It will test your body, mind, and soul. The only rules are that you may not intentionally kill another heir, and you are not allowed to surrender. The first challenge will be a type of scavenger hunt, but with much higher stakes. You will dropped off into the forest at different points and given only a map and a bottle of water. You will have five days to find the artifact, anyone who does not complete the task will be severely disadvantaged for the rest of the competition. At the end of the five days we will move on to the next challenge. Any questions?"

The heirs are silent for a moment, absorbing the new information. Then Alex raises his hand.

"Yes, Wilder."

Alex clears his throat and asks, "Does getting to the prize first win any advantages?"

The Gibborim chuckles at his question the room is surprised. They have never heard it laugh before. "Eager are we? No, there will be no advantage to being first. Only a disadvantage to those who do not complete the challenge. Anyone else?"

No one responds and the Gibborim says, "very well. You may return to your rooms and get ready for the ceremony tomorrow. I will be with you again at the end of the ascension to crown the new leader of the pride. But ... be warned, I will always be watching."

The box stops projecting and the room is flooded with light.

...

Nico sits on the edge of her huge bed, swinging her legs back and forth. She's couldn't sleep at all last night. All she could think about was the first challenge, how she could succeed, if she should form alliances, and most importantly, if she should even try and win. She's thought about this many times before, her parents aren't exactly the most kind people; actually, they are quite the opposite, especially her mother.

She sighs and falls back onto her bed, her head hitting the soft mattress with a thump. Her mind drifts back to ten years ago, when she saw something her parents didn't want her to see ...

"We need to eliminate the threat Robert, you know it will only get worse if we let it go on."

"You're right, it needs to be done."

All of a sudden someone knocks on the door and they turn quickly. A servant enters after a few seconds and clears his throat. From her position under the desk Nico can only see his feet. She came in here to hide from her nanny. She really didn't want to go see her tutor; she didn't want to learn about things she already knows.

The servant begins, "my queen, my king ..."

Her mom scoffs and says angrily, "get on with it."

"The workers, they're at our gate. They are demanding that they be paid fair for their work."

"Ah, I see. Well, I guess it's time then."

Her dad hesitates but eventually replies, "very well. You may go now."

The servant hastily leaves the room, letting the door slam behind him. Nico can see her mom go to the wall where her secret staff is held. She can't see exactly, but she assumes that's what she's doing.

Her parents leave in a hurry and Nico crawls out from under the desk. She follows behind them at a safe distance but stops once she seems them go outside. She runs upstairs quickly to her bedroom and looks out the window facing the front lawn.

Nico's memory gets a little fuzzy after that, but she does remember the screaming. It gave her nightmares for weeks. The hundreds of voices crying out for help, for someone to save them. She knows her mom did something; killed them or made them suffer somehow.

She stands up and walks over to her trunk that's sitting down next to the bathroom door. Nico kneels and puts the combination in the lock. With a click the trunk pops open and the staff is revealed. She doesn't really know why her mother gave it to her, I mean it his her most prized possession.

But I guess ruling the world is worth being apart from her favorite thing for a few weeks. Nico sighs and picks up the Staff of One. The staff immediately sends a small needle into her palm and takes a drop of blood to confirm she is a member of the Minoru line. She winces but doesn't let go of the staff. Instead she inspects the metal inscriptions on the cylinder and circle, they are from a language she's never seen before, but somehow the letters seem familiar.

Nico has only used the staff twice, and both were under her mother's supervision. From what she told her, the staff can only work through blood magic, and only by either her or Nico. Basically, all she has to do is think of something and it will happen.

But, it's not as easy as it sounds.

It takes a certain touch and tremendous focus to make the staff do even the simplest of things. Nico has only managed to make snow fall for approximately 3 seconds and close a door. That's it.

She wonders if should try it again now ...

Nico closes her eyes and holds the staff out at arms length. She thinks about her feelings at the moment, her anxiety about these upcoming weeks. She can feel herself shaking under the weight of all this pressure. At first she thinks it is simply because of the nerves but then she realizes the room is actually shaking, like an earthquake.

She drops the staff suddenly and rushes away from it. Did she do that? She quickly puts the staff back in her trunk and goes back to sit on her bed.

Her mind wonders to the other competitors, and she's curious as to how they feel about the ascension. Are they as apprehensive as she is? Or are they as blood thirsty as the Pride? I guess she'll find out soon.

...

The heirs are in a spacious room with various refreshments and dishes, awaiting to go on stage for the ceremony. Gert reaches down and pulls her dress out from under her feet. Why did they even make her wear this stupid thing? It's too long and really uncomfortable. She looks around the room and scoffs angrily when she sees the Stein boy. He's wearing a tux and looks too cocky. Like he knows he looks good. She stares at him, noting how the red bowtie he's wearing makes his brown eyes pop and how his hair-

Gert raises her eyebrows and shakes her head to rid her mind of those thoughts. Was she complimenting him? No way ... she's just mocking how perfect he looks, he's the golden boy after all. Gert is pulled out of her inner war when Molly walks over to her.

"Hey Gertrude!"

Gert smiles at the girl and says happily, "you can call me Gert. I like your hat." She points at the pink cap on her head.

Molly tugs on one of the drawstrings and laughs. "Thank you, I like your hair. Purple's one of my favorite colors, second to pink." Gert giggles at this and smiles at the girl. All of a sudden one of the Wilder servants calls Molly's name and she rolls her eyes. "They're gonna try and make me take it off again. Gotta go!" She runs in the opposite direction of the man, trying to evade him.

Now alone, Gert walks over to the refreshment stand and grabs a glass of water. She watches the other heirs interacting, they've been paired off. Nico is talking with Alex, and Chase is talking at Karolina, though she doesn't seem to be listening.

Of course, the golden girl and the golden boy are paired together. I mean, Karolina literally glows like a rainbow. She sighs and wishes Molly was there with her to keep her company. She doesn't want Molly to be here at all, however. I mean, she's only 11 after all, too young to be competing. But Gert heard that the Hayes pushed for them to let Molly compete, even though the Gibborim thought she was too young. They didn't want to forfeit their chance to lead. Gert makes a silent promise to herself to look after the young girl, although from what's she's heard, Molly can most certainly take care of herself.

On the other side of the room, Karolina is trying to escape an awkward conversation. She thinks Chase is nice, but she doesn't want him to flirt with her, which is all he's been doing the past 15 minutes.

"So, are you excited for the ceremony?" She smiles and nods. He continues, "so am I. I can't wait to see what the Wilder's have planned."

"Yeah."

Chase goes on and talks about something else, she thinks it's something about how many people are going to be watching. But all Karolina can do is watch the girl across the room.

Nico is wearing a long black dress, with a corset and high collar. And Karolina has never seen someone so beautiful. Well, she already knew Nico was beautiful but this is a whole new level. Her makeup exaggerates her dark eyes and high cheekbones. And her hair was up in a bun, leaving her neck exposed to the elements.

Karolina is pulled out of her trance when she recognizes that Chase asked her a question. "Sorry, what did you say?"

He gives her his million dollar smile and repeats himself, "I asked if you wanted to go join the others."

She looks to where she was staring earlier and sees Gert, Alex, and Nico conversing. "Sure."

Chase nods and holds his arm out. She looks at it for a few seconds, really confused, but then realizes he wants her to take his arm.

She smiles politely and slips her arm through his. They walk to the others.

...

"And now, let's bring out the heirs!" The audience claps loudly and the lights and cameras in the arena point to the side of the stage."

One by one the announcer introduces the kids and they line up on stage.

"Now, you all know the rules of the ascension. The heirs will compete to bring honor and glory to their kingdoms. Then, they will take their parents place as the esteemed Pride. May we wish them luck ... and let the festivities begin!"

He finishes and the crowd gives a standing ovation, excited for the weeks to come. While the heirs compete, the kingdoms hold a massive festival, celebrating the ascension.

The kids go one by one off stage and walk to the dressing rooms to change. There, they receive instructions to go back to their rooms and retrieve their essentials.

The ascension begins at dawn.


	3. the fall

"Okay, you can do this. It's just like you practiced", Alex thinks to himself as he climbs the stairwell in the west wing of his castle. He goes onto the fifth floor and walks down to the end of the hall.

Alex pauses in front of the dark, mahogany door and knocks quickly twice. After a minute, he hears shuffling and sees the light come on in the room.

The door opens and Nico appears, with a plush black robe tied around her. She scowls when she sees Alex standing there. "What do you want? I was sleeping," she grumbles angrily.

Alex clears his throat and says, "sorry to bother you. The reason I'm here is ... I wanted to ask, um-"

Nico rolls her eyes and half-yells, "Get on with it already Wilder!" She puts one hand on the door, like she's threatening to close it.

He scrunches his eyebrows and at her bad mood and takes a deep breath. "Will you form an alliance with me? For the competition tomorrow?"

"Well," Nico looks down at her watch and then back up at Alex again, "technically it's today."

She doesn't say anything else, just blankly stares at Alex.

He sighs and says frustratingly, "so? Will you work with me?"

Nico crosses her arms and blinks slowly. After a few seconds of staring she says calmly, "sorry. I work alone." Then she turns around and closes the door behind her.

Alex sighs deeply and rubs his forehead. He worries how his dad is going to react when he finds out he formed no alliances with the other heirs. Nico was the only one he would want to work with. She's intelligent like he is, and she is the most of powerful of all of them. The others are too volatile or wouldn't match well with him. Plus, it doesn't hurt that she's really cute.

He slumps his shoulders and walks back to his room, disappointed that he couldn't do what his dad told him to.

Nico peers through the doors peephole and sees that Alex is finally gone. She walks back to the large bed and gets under the covers again. "Why did he want to form an alliance with me?", Nico asks herself. She didn't even know the others were even considering forming partnerships. She didn't lie to Alex, she likes to work alone, but she can't help but wonder if maybe she should've accepted his offer. Nico might come off as confident to the rest of the heirs, but on the inside she was the scaredest she's ever been.

...

A few hours later, the heirs are awakened by a servant pounding on their doors. They are handed a piece of paper with instructions and bag.

"Inside the pack you will find what you need for the first test: a compass, an empty water bottle, your first clue, and a blanket. Dress for tropical weather. Along with the clothes on your back you will be allowed to take one item in your possession. Choose wisely. Be downstairs in the main hall by 0545."

The kids get dressed in clothes they think will best be suited for a humid environment and then contemplate what item they will bring.

For some of them it's easy. Chase will bring his fistigons, Molly her pink hat, and Nico her staff. But for the other three, they don't have any specific item they're tied to. After much debate, Alex brings one of his solar powered tablets, even though he may not have a access to any satellites where they are going. Karolina decides to bring her bracelet which helps to control her powers. But it's more sentimental than helpful; she doesn't need it as much as she did when she was younger. Gert spent a few minutes thinking of objects that had significance to her but came up with nothing. So instead she decided to bring something that would help her tactically, one of her parents gadgets she took from their lab. As taser-looking device that has four buttons on the front. She doesn't know what it does but it could prove useful.

Once all the heirs arrive in the main hall, Geoffrey and Catherine greet them. They say there introductions then Geoffrey plays a message from the Gibborim, this time off a square drive, no larger than a quarter.

Just like last time, it's voice booms at a surprising volume from the small device.

"Greetings. It is now time to begin the ascension. A plane is waiting to take you to the first location. As you might have guessed already, you will be traveling to the Kinabalu rain forest, the only one of its kind in the Wilder territory. Once there you will receive a map and you will have five days to find the location marked. You know the rest. Good luck to you all."

The voice shuts off and Geoffrey deposits the device in his pocket. Since the Gibborim does not allow for any questions, the heirs follow a servant through a corridor and out onto long runway.

They follow single file onto a private plane and sit down in the six seats provided for them. An attendant comes by and hands all of the heirs a wristband. The plane soon takes off and instructions play over the intercom.

"Good afternoon passengers, we will arrive at our destination in approximately 30 minutes. You will exit the plane when you are told. Some rules on interactions with the outside world: we will only be monitoring your locations and health, nothing else. If we find, through the wristbands you were given, that the bands are removed, or one of you is in dire need of medical care, we will come to you. But other than that, you all are on your own. We will not know what happens on the ground unless you tell us. Good luck."

The female voice stops and the heirs look down at their bracelets. Chase investigates the metal band and sees it has an LED pulse rate monitor and a row of micro-needles on the back. He puts the band on and cringes as the needles puncture his skin, but the pain soon goes away. He tries to loosen the band but it's locked. He looks up and sees the others watching him. He smiles and says, "warning, it's a little tight."

The others follow what Chase did and put their bands on tentatively.

"Shit!", Nico yells and the other heirs laugh. "That hurt like a mother-"

Alex interrupts her, "hey! Watch it," he points at Molly, "we've got a PG audience here."

Nico just rolls her eyes and tried to pull the band off her wrist. When it doesn't budge she goes to grab her staff out of her bag but Karolina yells, "don't! We can't take them off, remember?"

Nico stares at the blond and debates cussing her out, but she is right after all. Karolina looks away from her gaze and a blush forms on her cheeks. Nico wonders why Karolina is scared to look at her and why her face is turning red, is she angry or something?

Nico sits back up and observes the other heirs. They're all tense, almost like they're afraid of what she might do. "They're scared of me!", Nico thinks to herself. She makes a note to take advantage of that in the future.

She realizes that they're all waiting for her response still so she grumbles, "fine," and crosses her arms.

Ten minutes later, the intercom comes on again.

"We have reached your destination, exit the plane now."

"Okay, she must be joking right?", Gert asks the rest of them. They're in the air still. How do they expect them to get down?

Alex shakes his head and replies, "no. Look." He points to a corner of the plane and they see six parachutes hanging on the wall.

Gert stands up shakily and starts to pace back and forth across the aisle. "No. No way. I can't do that! I'm afraid of heights."

Chase stands up and crosses his arms. "Well, you're gonna have to get over that soon sweetheart."

Gert is about to respond rudely but Karolina quickly interjects. "Hey Gertrude, don't worry. We'll be fine! It's perfectly safe."

Gert scoffs and says, "first of all, I go by Gert. And second of all, easy for you to say, you can fly."

Molly gasps and says excitedly, "whoaaa you can fly?"

Karolina smiles sheepishly and nods, she doesn't like all the attention being on her. She's been like this all her life, but hasn't been able to avoid it because being an alien always makes you stand out of a crowd.

"Okay I hate to interrupt but we were supposed to leave the plane like three minutes ago so," Alex says.

They all turn to look at the parachutes hanging up and Chase is the first to walk over. He picks up the first one and a piece of paper drops on the ground. He bends down to retrieve it and exclaims, "hey look it's the map the gibby thing was talking about!"

They all rush over to look but he hides it behind his back and says, "get your own!"

The rest of the heirs grab their packs and pull out the maps. It shows the landscape below, a few named locations, and a location marked 'end', where they are expected to go.

After observing the map, Chase stuffs it in his bag then puts his bag in front of him. He walks to the back of the plane and presses a button. The floor in the rear of the plane drops slowly, revealing an area to jump off to the ground below. Chase walks to the edge of the floor. He puts the parachute on his back and turns around to face the others. "Lucky for me, I've been skydiving with my buddies before. It's a real adrenaline rush." He winks and falls backward off the end of the plane.

Gert yells above the wind, "that asshole!" Then she looks at the other to see them walking over to where Chase was just seconds ago, and rushes to join them.

After a few seconds of silence Karolina says, "I can make sure you guys make it down safely. If you want."

"Yes! Please," Alex says quickly.

"I guess you could but I could survive the fall as long as I land on my feet," Molly says nonchalantly.

Karolina raises her eyebrows at Molly's statement then looks at Nico and Gert for their answers.

Gert is reluctant to rely on another person this early in the competition, but eventually she gives in and lets Karolina help her.

Nico, on the other hand, doesn't want her help. She's confident she can work a parachute by herself, so she smiles at Karolina and says coyly, "no thanks."

Karolina shrugs and looks at Alex and Gert and points at the end of the plane, "after you."

Alex gulps then puts his pack and parachute on the way Chase did. He steps to the edge, takes a deep breath, and jumps. He screams as soon as he starts falling.

Gert looks down at Alex, seeing him get smaller and smaller. She turns around and looks at Molly. "You want to come with me?"

Molly shrugs and walks up to the ledge with Gert. She counts to three and they both jump off.

Karolina sighs and looks at Nico, who's getting her bags ready. "Just shout if you need me."

Nico says, "I won't," and turns around but Karolina is already gone.

She rolls her eyes and looks at the ground below, she can see Karolina, glowing like a freaking rainbow. She scoffs and wonders what kind of alien glows like a rainbow then jumps off into the night sky.


	4. the landing

So far, only Chase has made it to the ground. Well, kind of. His parachute got snagged in a tree so now he's dangling about 10 meters up in the air, with nothing to cut himself down. Fortunately though, he has is fistigons.

He takes them out of his pack and, after two tries, he manages to shoot down the branch his parachute is connected to, sending him falling to the ground.

He lands hard on his back but he isn't injured. He stands up, brushes himself off, and takes out his map. He studies his surroundings and pinpoints his approximate location then finds the direction he needs to go. 

Chase puts his map up and is about to start walking but he hears a low growl behind him. He slowly turns around and sees two pairs of glowing red eyes peering through some vegetation. He gulps and raises his fistigons, preparing to fire but then one of the creature jumps at him and he sprints in the other direction. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the heirs are still falling. Alex, Gertrude, and Molly all have deployed their parachutes and are trying to aim for an open clearing. Karolina is gliding down next to them to ensure they land safely.

She's curious to see how Nico is doing so she turns around. But she can't seem to find her in the sky anywhere. Which is odd because she should have released the chute by now. Karolina frantically looks up and down, searching for the girl, when finally she sees a figure tumbling towards the trees far below her.

She rushes toward Nico and sees her fumbling with her parachute, but it doesn't seem to be opening. It must be stuck.

Karolina flies towards Nico and grabs her around the waist and slows down their falling. Nico struggles against her grip at first but then she sees the glowing hands around her waist and realizes who saved her.

Karolina slowly lowers a grumpy Nico to the ground.

Once they get there Nico abruptly pushes Karolina away from her. "I didn't need you to save me. I would have been fine."

Karolina raises her eyebrows in confusion and says back, "well yeah if you consider dead fine. What happened?"

Nico shrugs and pulls the parachute off her bag. "It wouldn't open." 

Karolina nods and takes the pack from her. After a few tries she manages to pull the handle to the chute but it doesn't release. She rips open the bag and finds there isn't a chute in there to begin with. "It's empty?"

Nico looks up from the map she's holding and exclaims, "what the hell? Someone sabotaged me?"

Karolina nods her head. "Yeah but I don't think it was one of the other heirs because no one tampered with the packs as far as I could tell. It must have been the Gibborim, or whoever set up the plane."

"Why would they do that?"

"I guess to test us? I don't know really."

"I would have been fine though, just letting you know. I have my staff, see?" Nico lifts the staff of one out of her bag for Karolina to see.

"Hm, yeah sure. You're welcome by the way." Nico rolls her eyes and looks back to her map. Karolina walks closer to her and looks over her shoulder. "So where are we going first?"

"We? No way, I work alone. Sorry, sweetie."

Karolina mumbles to herself quietly, "sweetie?" Then she coughs and says more loudly, "well, I'll just follow you then. There's no rule against that. You're smart, I'm sure you'll find the location quicker than the rest of them."

Nico sighs and looks at the map one more time before putting it away. "You know, I could just force you to stay away from me with my staff, or ... the rules say not to intentionally kill another heir, they don't say anything about intentionally harming one. So, think about that when you try and follow me. 

Karolina gulps and wonders if she's bluffing. She has to be right? From all her research on Nico she seemed to be okay, maybe even a kind person sometimes. So why is she threatening Karolina now? She'll have to just convince Nico of her usefulness. 

She puts on a smile and says calmly, "listen. I can tell you don't like me, I don't know why but that's not the point. I can help you, I am an alien and I have powers remember? So, I'm just asking you to put aside your hatred for me for however long this first test takes us so that we can find the location before the others do and not be eliminated. Okay?"

Nico's face softens for a moment after Karolina speaks. She doesn't hate the girl, she just ... nevermind. She contemplates her offer for a moment, Karolina does fly and that's super useful. The rainbow shit is kind of annoying though. She sighs and shakes her head. Why not? 

"Okay," Nico says nonchalantly as she walks off in the direction she thinks leads to the marked location. 

Karolina pauses for a moment, shocked. Then she asks hurriedly, "that's it?"

"Yep," Nico replies, farther away now. 

Karolina quickly gathers her things then jogs after the shorter girl. "Are you always this abrupt?"

"Yeah pretty much, it's part of my charm," Nico replies, smiling. "Hey don't you need to go check on the others?" She stops and waits for her to catch her breath.

"I already did, they got to the ground. You're the only one who had trouble."

"Well did you actually see them land or did you just see their parachutes deploy?" Karolina frowns then shakes her head. "So you don't actually know that they landed."

"Well no but ... hey when did you become so concerned about the others. You're trying to get rid of me aren't you?" Karolina rolls her eyes when Nico doesn't respond and turns around. "Oh so you're not talking to me now wh-" She stops when she sees Nico has her magic staff thing out. She's looking at a group of trees to their left and is standing very still. She's about to ask what's going on but then she sees it.

.

"Come on Moll, we need to get moving."

"I'm coming Gert, just give me a second to unhook myself," Molly says as she releases the clasp holding the parachute to her body. "Okay I'm good now."

"Hey what about me?", Alex says as he takes his parachute off.

Molly doesn't care whether Alex comes with them or not so she looks to Gert. 

"What about you?", Gert replies.

"Are you going to let me come with you guys?"

Gert shrugs and says, "it depends. What do you bring to the table?" 

"You'd be surprised, I can be very resourceful."

Gert sighs. Well, he seems nice enough and it is his home territory so he could prove to be useful. "Fine, but if you put either our lives in danger we're kicking you out and taking all your stuff," she threatens. Alex's eyes widen and he nods in reply.

Gert holds the map up and tries to decipher where they are currently, she can see there's a river about a hundred yards to the left of them and there's one on the map. But there's no telling where they are in relation to it because she only has one reference point. 

"Hey how do you know which way is north again?"

Alex looks at his watch and says, "okay it's almost noon and the sun is," he looks around and points in the sky, "there. So that way is north." 

"What?"

"I get bored sometimes and learn random things," Alex says. 

Gert raises her eyebrows in surprise. Maybe Alex will be more useful than she originally thought. "Okay, that means we're around here," Gert says and points to a spot on the map near the bend in the river. "So, we need to go that way." 

Molly comes over and looks at the map to see. "Okay, let's go! I'm so excited." She grabs Gert's hand and jogs off in the direction of the marker, Alex follows.


	5. the chase

Chase sprints away from the creature. He doesn't dare turn around to get a better look; he's already caught a glimpse and that was enough. It had glowing red eyes and huge, sharp teeth and he thinks there may have been claws involved but it was all a blur. As he runs he tries to find a good tree to climb up because that's the only option he can think of to escape that thing. Chase tries to dodge around trees and through vines to disorient the creature but he just hears it pummeling through everything in its path. And it's getting closer. 

He eventually finds a viable tree to climb and jumps high when he reaches it, barely hanging on and getting his footing. As he hops to the next branch, he can hear the snap of the creature's jaw and it sounds dangerously close to where his legs were moments earlier. He reaches a high enough branch and slowly turns around to look at the monster, but it's already gone. 

Only a half-mile away Nico and Karolina have managed to escape from their creature; Nico was about to conjure up some spell to make the weird, dinosaur-looking thing disappear but Karolina interrupted her and just lifted her up and flew off. Which, although Nico won't admit it, was the better idea. 

"What the hell is that thing?", Nico shouts above the wind. 

"I don't know, a velociraptor or something? Where should we set down at? I'm having a little trouble keeping us up here for this long."

Nico scoffs and asks, "are you saying I'm heavy?" 

Karolina's face goes red and she replies quickly, "no, no of course not! I'm not saying that at all I just have trouble flying for long periods of time, plus I'm already tired and hungry but you aren't heavy! You're very fit looking in fact, I mean I-" she stops when she hears Nico laughing in her arms. "What? Why are you laughing?"

"I was kidding! Damn, it's so easy to mess with you isn't it." 

Karolina frowns in response and then flies to about a mile away from where they last saw the creature. "There, that should be good." She gently lowers Nico to the ground and then herself; she stops glowing a few seconds later. 

Nico wobbles a little bit upon landing and takes a moment to steady herself. "Wow, I don't think I could ever get used to that."

"You would get used to it eventually, it took me a few months to get over the motion sickness and then another year to learn how to fly without falling every few seconds." 

"When did you start flying?", Nico asks, genuinely interested, as they walk in the direction she thinks is north. 

"Um, I think when I was around 5 or 6? I don't know exactly, but it was right before I started school." 

Nico raises her eyebrows at her answer. That's pretty early to start training. "Why did you start so young?" 

Karolina shrugs and says, "it was when my powers started showing up I think. I've trained six days a week ever since then; well, up until now I guess."

Nico nods in understanding. Her parents made her train as well. Not in cool alien rainbow magic, but in other things, like studying the mystic arts. She wonders what specific things Karolina trained in and is about to ask but stops herself. She's already talked with her too much already. She needs to stay focused on the goal here, winning. 

...

"Hey wait up you guys!", Alex shouts from the other side of the stream. Gert and Molly just walked through the ankle deep water, but Alex is trying to find a drier way across. He really hates it when his shoes and socks get wet. 

"Alex we're waiting five minutes and if you're not over here by then we're leaving!", Gert yells back. 

Alex grumbles in response and looks around for a viable option. He spots a place where the stream narrows so he walks toward it. He shouts to the girls, "hey it looks like there's a spot where I can jump across, head upstream!"

Gert rolls her eyes but she and Molly follow his directions and walk upstream. 

Alex inspects the area and sees a rock that cuts into the stream almost halfway across. He steps on it and slowly walks towards the other side, careful not to fall on the slippery surface. He's about to jump across when he hears Molly scream so he stops to look at her. 

To his surprise she seems to be pointing to something behind him. He turns around to see what the fuss is about and sees these two red eyes glowing through the bushes a few feet behind him. That can't be good. 

Gert grabs Molly's hand and slowly backs them away from the creature in the bushes, careful not to make any sudden movements. She whispers to Molly, "on the count of three we run as fast as we can behind us okay?" 

Molly nods and Gert counts softly, "one .... two .... three, run!" and she and Molly sprint away, leaving Alex behind. 

He gets the idea though. He yells a string of curses and follows behind them, not caring anymore that his feet are soaked. 

They sprint as fast as they can until Gert spots a big log they can hide behind, possibly. She runs and hops over the log and drops quickly to the ground, Alex and Molly follow. 

Gert motions for them to be quiet and slowly lifts up to peer over the log. The only sound is the heavy breathing of her companions and herself. She can't see any glowing eyes anymore so that's good. It must've just been a very large cat or something. "Okay, the coast is clear," she says as she sinks back to the ground. 

"What was that thing?", Alex asks. 

Gert replies snarkily, "how should we know? You're the one who lives here genius."

"I live in a city with running water and food and people! This is a fucking jungle! ... Oops, sorry Molly. This is a freaking jungle!"

"Okay guys, calm down it's alright. We're safe now. See?", Molly says as she stands up. "No more creepy monster anymore." 

The other two don't say anything, just sit there stubbornly with their arms crossed. Molly sighs and starts to walk in the direction she thinks is north. Alex and Gert follow. 

...

Karolina sighs to herself as she and Nico walk in silence. They were doing so well earlier, she even made her laugh! 

They make their way through the dense vegetation, swatting at mosquitoes and brushing leaves and branches out of their path. 

Karolina notices it's getting harder to see in front of her so she looks up to the sky. It seems the sun is starting to set. She stops and turns to Nico behind her. "It's getting dark, you want to set up camp?"

Nico stops and shrugs then goes off in a different direction. 

"So that's a yes then?" When she doesn't get a reply Karolina sighs heavily and follows the smaller girl. When she catches up, Nico has sat down on a rock and pulled the empty water bottle and map out of her bag. 

"We'll need to drink water pretty soon. I'll look for a lake or pond on the map." Karolina nods and leans on a tree. After a few seconds Nico points to a spot. "There, it looks to be about a half-mile west. I think we can walk there before it gets too dark. Although," she looks around at the little clearing they found, "this would be a nice place to set up camp." 

Karolina interjects and says, "I can fly there and be back within like five minutes if you want me to." 

Nico shrugs and replies, "sure. Take both bottles though, we need as much water as you can get." She hands Karolina her bottle. 

Karolina is about to fly off but she hesitates and turns back toward Nico. "Wait, you're not just trying to get rid of me are you? You'll still be here when I get back?" 

Nico pauses for a moment to act like she's considering it and Karolina scoffs. Nico says seriously, "No, I wasn't until you mentioned it."

"You jerk!", Karolina exclaims as she walks over and hits Nico lightly on the upper arm. 

Nico raises her hands in surrender. "Kidding! Gosh, you really can't recognize a joke can you? Besides, I couldn't leave you. You've got my water bottle." Nico smiles smugly and Karolina rolls her eyes then flies off. 

... 

Alex, Gert, and Molly are about three miles east of the girls and are currently debating where to stop for camp. 

"But if we camp by the water then there'll be one less direction exposed to whatever creature was chasing us earlier!", Alex says angrily. 

Gert of course disagrees. "But if we're further in the jungle we're less exposed visually. It's too open out here, you can see for hundreds of yards. 

Alex debates it for a moment then shakes his head in defeat. They've been wasting enough time on this already. "Fine, let's go further in."

Gert smiles and turns back towards the jungle. 

About ten minutes later Molly stops them suddenly. She raises a closed fist in the air then motions for them to crouch down. Gert is about to ask what's wrong but then Molly shushes them. 

Molly looks around slowly at the greenery around them. She could have sworn she heard a branch snap ahead of her. 

Just as she is about to give the all clear she sees the red eyes again. She turns around slowly to make eye contact with the others but they've already seen. "Run", she mouths then they race off in the opposite direction. 

This time however, the red-eyed monster follows and they can hear it crashing through the jungle behind them. 

Gert's mind races for ideas on how to evade the creature but she can't think of anything but running away. And the thing is getting closer. 

All of a sudden Alex trips on a root and yelps loudly. Molly and Gert stop and try to pick him up again but they freeze when they see the thing clearly for the first time. 

"A dinosaur?", Gert asks. "What the hell?"

Molly puts her hands out towards the dinosaur and says as calmly as she can, "good velocirapor, we're not going to hurt you. Shhhhhh." It actually seems to be working kind of, the dinosaur has stopped coming towards them. 

Alex stands up slowly, but as he does his metal water bottle slips out of the pocket on his bag and hits the ground with a clang. 

The monster tilts it's head and crouches down, then slowly makes it's way towards the kids once again. 

Gert does the only thing she can think of, she pulls the device she took from her parents out of her bag and points it at the dinosaur. "Listen buddy, I don't want to use this but I will if I have to." This doesn't stop the monster, surprisingly, and it continues forward. 

"Fine, you've been warned," Gert says and pushes the first button on the device. 

A bright flash of light is released and Gert and the dinosaur fall to the ground.


End file.
